I picked up some CoolBars, broccoli doodles, peanut butter, and some bananas. Her lane was the longest, but I waited there anyway. She was wearing a brown and yellow employee’s smock with “CG” painted over her left breast. Her hair was pulled back in a tiny ponytail, making her look energetic and carefree. When I began putting my stuff on the checker in front of her, her big gray eyes turned up toward me.
I have no way of knowing how pretty she really was. I was in love and saw starlight and roses. She smiled at me. An, “I know you,” greeting, of some passable enjoyment. I’d take that.
“Cold today,” I said, feeling a bit moronic for not having thought of something more delightful to say while I waited in line.
“If you’re planning on stealing those bananas you should at least hide them in your pants.” She looked pointedly at the bunch of bananas still in my hand, then raised one eyebrow with mock suspicion.
I placed the bananas on the counter. Her smile went on like a light bulb and caught me by surprise again, just as it had at the Beef Tucuman. More than anything, I wanted to reach out over the counter and touch her cheek. I took a deep breath and shoved my hands in my pockets to keep them from betraying me. “Couldn’t hide them in my pants,” I said. “That’s where I hid the frozen cauliflower.”
She tilted her head and with a devilish little smile she said, “I can see why you’d say it was cold today.
I paid cash and left, still holding the change in my hand. Carla didn’t recognize me. She would be fine. Like Chen said, what did she see in me anyway?
I had a lot to straighten out. I needed to get used to a new life and do it without forgetting the previous one. Carla needed to get used to a new life too, and I figured she would be better able to start that new life without me.
Walking home, I again thought of what Wilde had said, “No man is rich enough to buy back his past,” but I was looking forward now. Everything was out in front of me. My future was as a “Purveyor of Fine Antiquities.”
I also thought about Laverick’s suggestion. She wanted me to find other Gnomes from the most wanted list and bring them out into the light of day, but in some ways, working with the police was no different from working with the River Pirates. They don’t let you quit, and they can enforce that rule because, after you’ve worked with them for a while, they know what you’ve done. So I decided to stay in between, and maybe I’d stir the pot a little once in a while to keep life from getting too stale.
As I crossed the river, a buzzcar slammed past at twice the speed limit, leaving a roaring echo in my ears. I realized with a smile that I had the money now to go to Jolie’s Teckbay and buy a buzzcar buzzer that would bring buzzcars down to earth. Everyone needs a hobby.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Clifford Royal Johns lives in the Chicago area and designs integrated circuits. His stories have been published in science fiction, mystery and mainstream magazines and anthologies. Walking Shadow is his first novel
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